


strays

by multifanwho



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU, Christmas fic, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Implied Smut, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Yearning, cat shelter au, they're so dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:22:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28296726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multifanwho/pseuds/multifanwho
Summary: Yasmin Khan and Joey Smith are two people very alike. Both running from a past. Both wanting more. And where else are two people who are lost in the world to converge than where all strays go?
Relationships: Thasmin - Relationship, Thirteen/Yaz, Thirteenth Doctor/Yasmin Khan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 52





	strays

**Author's Note:**

> for caitlyn, even though this is probably 100% not what you imagined and I have no idea how cat shelters work ENJOY if you see spelling mistakes no you don't

Yaz Khan always likes to turn up to work at least ten minutes before her proper start time. Not to feed the cats early- that would mess up the schedule for everyone else- and not to get a head start with paperwork either but instead to make sure there aren’t any babies left at the front door. The first time a box of kittens was left at her work for her to find, she was too late for one of them and it haunted her for months. So, Yaz Khan always likes to turn up to work ten minutes before her proper start time.

The quiet of the Grace O'Brien Cat Center is savoured by her anyway during those early starts. Yaz likes to work all day if she can, doing different roles here and there throughout the day and she never knows where the day will take her but she always starts in the morning. Even in the encroaching winter mornings that greet her crisply on her nose, ears and the tips of her fingers she still gets up with a spark in her heart ready to help an animal's life as well as bring some joy to a willing family. The hum of the computer starting up matches with the sound of the radiator behind her heating up the office where Ryan Sinclair will spend his day A few more minutes and everyone else will be here and Yaz, as always, wants to be ahead of the game so the second she can she checks what’s going on today and creates a plan in her head for what she, personally, needs to get done. Two adoptions and one family visiting to meet a cat they picked out online. An excellent day ahead that makes her heart warm. 

“Morning Yaz.”

Joey Smith rushes in which slightly surprises Yaz but she doesn’t take much notice of it. Joey is very rarely ever on time. Weekends, weekdays, it doesn't matter, she's almost always late. Yaz forgives her every time so long as she’s the one in charge that day. No particular reason why, she just likes her and although Joey brings this kind of chaos to the place with how she moves, everything seems to have calmed down since she joined just over a year ago.

“Morning J- Joey what’s that?” 

The soles of the false blonde’s shoes squeak on the floor as she halts her movement and twists in the direction of Yaz, revealing a swaddled towel in her arms being held against the logo on the blue fleece they all wear. Her lips are pressed together in a fine line and her eyes open wide to create an illusion of innocence. 

“Cat.” She says.

“Why?” Yaz raises an eyebrow, peering over the front desk. They should really buy a higher chair if anything for the sake of ergonomics.

“We’re a cat center.” Joey grins like Yaz’s question is a joke since the answer is so obvious.

Yaz sighs, knowing Joey’s habits almost off by heart by now. She gets up from the chair and the two of them move to meet in the middle so Yaz can check the little one out while Joey smiles at how hard Yaz has to pretend to not come across as a pushover to her antics. Yaz strokes the top of its white yet slightly dirty head, the only thing peaking out of the bundle, which gets its big blue eyes open. Nothing of concern there and she trusts that Joey wouldn’t have brought it here if she saw any other physical injuries. 

“Where’d you find it?” Yaz asks, gently prying open the kittens lips to check its teeth, knowing she should be wearing gloves.

“On my run this morning. It was shivering and cold so I just… took it home, made sure it was warm and dry, that’s all.” Joey explains, throwing away the playful front for just a moment to show how much she really cares about this life in her hands. 

“It needs to go to the vet.” Yaz says. It might be microchipped and simply lost from home considering how visibly well it looks, if a little bit skinny but it’s only a baby.

“Vets don’t open for another half hour- only the half hour Yaz then I’ll take it straight there.” Joey pleads her case to keep it here close to her chest to keep it warm. Yaz knows Joey’s done the right thing and she can’t argue against her just sitting here not exposing any of the other cats. Ryan will like it too; something to entertain him when he eventually turns up. 

“Fine. Just don’t take it anywhere near the other cats it might have fleas.” 

“No concern for my well being then.” Joey teases, going to take the seat behind the desk knowing that Yaz is right and therefore this is where she will stay for the next half hour. 

“It’s-” 

“My fault for always pickin’ up lost strays, I know, I know.” Joey recites with a smile. 

“Right then.” Yaz taps a rhythm on the desk with her fingers to stop herself from getting hypnotized by the young cat staring up at Joey. “Feeding time at the zoo.”

Although Yaz loves mornings, she hates seeing cats in cages at this time after a night of being held here alone. They get enclosed outdoor time here if they’re well enough to go out- Grace made sure of that when she set this place up- but as the center has grown it's nowhere near enough room for these cats to hunt and roam like they’re used to and just seeing Yaz first thing makes them scream for food. They’re kept in big enough cages, big enough to fit scratching posts, litter trays and beds but it’s not a home. Nothing should ever be confined. Some might argue that Yaz is so confined to her work she may as well be living in a cage. Her mum mainly, Martha says it too when Yaz turns up at the vets a few times in a row. Joey however sees no problem with Yaz dedicating most of her life to her work.

Yaz drags the tub of dry food feeding each cat as she passes, switching to kitten food for the babies and specific tinned food for the grumpy old man named Muffin with digestive issues. He’s one of the ones that gets to go home today and Yaz tells him that. She likes to think they understand when she talks to them. He’s a great big lump of brown fur that needed at least a day's worth of brushing when he turned up and Yaz was the one to do it. A whole day of attempting to brush out knots and matted bits all while she chats aimlessly to him like he’s her friend. It’s always sad to see the ones you get attached to leave, but Yaz knows they’re going to a proper caring household and that’s the whole point. That’s the outcome she works for.

From then on she continues with her morning, changing water, changing newspaper, changing litter trays which luckily Joey comes to help her with. They let the older cats that can go out, out and they both stay to play- Joey noting down the behaviours of the cats to make sure they’re being normal. Almost every time she finds herself in this outdoor run around Yaz finds it so difficult not to just scoop up all of them at once, all the different breeds and combinations and colours and personalities and just squeeze them tight even with the chance of getting her eyes ripped out. Some of them have gone without love from a human so long and Yaz just wants to give it to them- especially the ones that still haven’t learnt completely that there _are_ humans who are genuinely good. 

Joey, ever the giving soul, goes and gets her and Yaz lunch and they eat their food together while having a good chat. Yaz likes Joey- if that hasn’t been made clear already. She’s a bit older, little bit whacky in personality and a little bit like an airhead sometimes but not stupid. Joey’s worked here for a year and Yaz considers her a sort of friend yet still she feels like she’s only been able to get past a couple of Joey’s personal walls. It’s like she’s made up of all sorts of different doors and every so often she hands Yaz a key, a question to ask that will then give her an answer and unlock a door to a new fact or piece of information friends share. Yaz wants to collect all of Joey's keys, know all of her secrets just because she wants to unravel the mystery. Who works with someone for a year and only knows a handful of personal details?

“Hm.” Joey frowns at her phone- a flip phone no less. Just part of her charm. 

“What’s up?” Yaz asks, hoping that due to her good mood today Joey is about to hand her another key. 

“That kitten from this morning. Martha said it’s microchipped and its family has been looking for her for a few days.” Joey sighs, lightly snapping her phone shut. Somewhere deep in her conscience Yaz can’t help but ask herself why Martha is texting Joey on her personal phone and not calling up reception for Ryan to pass on the message. 

“That’s a good thing. Why’d you sound so bummed?” Yaz asks.

“I want another cat.” Joey pouts.

“Is three not enough?” Yaz scoffs. She can’t bring herself to get one of her own so the thought of having four like Joey intends to is baffling. “Also you could just take your pick of any of the ones here-” 

“Well I wanted Muffin didn’t I and he got snapped up.” She angrily leans back in her plastic chair and folds her arms tight across her chest. 

“You get too attached.” Yaz shakes her head at her. That’s the difference between her and Joey; Joey treats them all like they’re her own and then when they leave she gets grouchy about it, unable to separate her feelings from duty. 

“And you don’t? Don’t lie to me Yasmin Khan.” Joey smirks knowing that Yaz can’t claim she’s totally heartless. 

“I have my favourites.” Yaz admits.

“Me too but I want that special-” Joey clicks her fingers up in Yaz’s face. “-instant click, you know.”

“Are you sure what you really want is a cat?” Yaz asks, pushing away her arm. It’s cheeky to ask, she knows, but she wants to know if Joey has more than just three cats at home. A partner? A boyfriend? A girlfriend? None of the people that work here have been able to figure it out yet and yes Yaz _knows_ she’s sticking her nose into someone else's business but it’s just a shameless attempt to get to know her better. 

Joey smiles directly at Yaz- gently and kindly but Yaz knows she’s saying ‘nice try’. “The family that are coming to meet Pickles are arriving in five minutes.” She says. 

“I better get her ready then.” Yaz excuses herself, knowing that this certain door is certainly staying shut for now.

“So…” Yaz pushes the door to the little room open with her leg, her hands occupied carrying pickles, a four year old short haired ginger cat that was found abandoned and unchipped in a collection of pickle jars waiting to be recycled. The two children, six and eight year old boys do a quiet little jump for joy trying to contain their excitement. “This is Pickles. She’s a little bit shy so let's just let her walk around and get used to you.” 

“What do you think of this boys?” The father squeezes his son's shoulders, trying to get them even more excited. In all honesty to Yaz it looks like he’s already set to take Pickles home. 

“Will she be like a sister but with fur?” The younger kid whispers. 

“Kind of.” Their dad chuckles. “Depends if she likes you enough to come home but hey, she’s got the same hair colour as you.” 

Yaz stays quiet and watches carefully as Pickles scouts out the room and the unfamiliar people in it. She watches how well behaved the children are, not reaching out to touch Pickles, staying quiet like the cat is fragile. Pickles jumps up onto the silver table and starts to sniff at the two boys and their parents.

“So why choose to adopt a cat?” Yaz asks, starting the rescue center's sly line of questioning. 

“Oh, well I’ve recently started working from home and the boys are at an age for some responsibility so we thought now would be a good time.” The mum says.

“Do you live near any busy roads at all?”

“No, not really. We’ve got a bit of a field behind our house and we live a little tucked away from the road that goes through our village.” The mum answers. It comes across as a tiny bit snobbish compared to her other answer, especially with her southern accent getting stronger, but the way Pickles is quite swiftly allowing the kids to stroke her back Yaz pushes the attitude aside. 

“Well if you do decide to take on Pickles I’d suggest keeping her in as long as possible until she knows that you’re her family and then only let her out the back when she’s collared up and microchipped.” 

“Of course.” The dad nods. He seems calmer, like he’s had cats before and knows exactly what to do with them which fills Yaz with enough confidence to allow this adoption to go through. 

They spend another five minutes in the room with Pickles roaming free and light chatter. Yaz by the end of the slot approves this family and sends them out to Ryan at the front desk to schedule a house visit with one of the volunteers. Although they said they live tucked away with a big field behind them that doesn’t tell anyone about the state of their actual house and besides, it’s the procedure. No posh accent is going to push it aside. 

“They seem nice.” Ryan smiles when Yaz closes the front door behind her after escorting the family out. 

“Good kids. Very gentle and calm. I think Pickles will like it with them.” Yaz rests her arms on the counter. 

“Aw, I liked Pickles.” Ryan grins. “And Muffin. What a day for happy endings.” 

“Plus no admissions today.” Yaz notes, referring to the success of Joey’s find being returned to its family this morning. 

Ryan inhales sharply. “You’ve cursed us now, that phone will probably ring non stop in a minute.”

“I’m sorry!” Yaz laughs at his overdramatic concern. 

The double doors that separate reception from where the cats are kept fling open with a disgruntled looking Joey moving towards the toilets with a beige looking paste splattered on her shirt.

“One of the kittens puked its guts up on me.” She says as they stare. 

“Do you need me to-”

“Help stick a thermometer up its arse, yeah.” Joey finishes Yaz's sentence for her as she disappears to clean herself up.

“Told you. Cursed.” Ryan flicks Yaz’s shoulder. She catches his finger and playfully bends it back until he taps out.

Yaz is trained in the basics: taking vitals, emergency care, grooming, getting cats to take medication. Joey too, but since she was the one that got vommed on it’s only fair that Yaz is down at the business end this time. 

“I know little man, it’s not pleasant.” Yaz says, inserting the thermometer while Joey keeps the anonymous cat still. He only came in yesterday and they’ve not had the chance to name him yet.

“Why do you do this Yaz?” Joey asks to fill the silence of the waiting time.

“What, talk to them?” Yaz smiles, confused. Surely everyone talks to animals.

“Why do you work here?” Joey asks, too filled with curiosity to smile back. 

“I've told you why.” Yaz says. 

“No, you haven't, I just guessed.” Joey says. This new level of intensity coming from her eyes makes Yaz feel so unsettled. She’s never told Joey why she started working here and yet she was under the impression she had. "You're here almost all the time, treating each cat like they're your own, giving them the utmost care and attention like this is some kind of spa resort for them. I'm only wondering… what's a girl with so much potential doing here?" 

"Have you been analysing everything I do? Are you like… an undercover boss?" Yaz asks with the courage to look back up at her. Joey slyly smiles at her.

"No, not an undercover boss. And I haven't been analysing, just observing and wondering." Joey holds her gaze. “If I was an undercover boss I’d give you a pay rise.”

The thermometer beeps so Yaz stays quiet while she removes it and writes it down on the kittens record. It’s a bit high, but nothing that should cause concern if he keeps eating and drinking as normal.

"I could ask you the same question Joey." Yaz says. 

Joey smirks and picks up the kitten to hold him against her chest for an apologetic cuddle. "Oh really? How come?"

"You're smart."

"I like to think so-"

"No, you're _really_ smart. I hear you mumbling to yourself all the time, all this science stuff and I bet you could have become anything- a mathematician, a mechanic, a doctor, anything- but you work here." Yaz says, taking off her gloves. There are only a couple of other factors about Joey that Yaz is certain on but this information she’s pulled together on her own. There have been no keys, no leading questions to gather this information, only Yaz’s own initiative. 

"You really want to know more about me Yaz Khan?" Joey asks.

"I consider you a friend so yeah, I do." Yaz shrugs like it’s not that big of a deal to her which of course is a big fat lie. 

"Do you like watching movies?"

Yaz’s ears prick up with intrigue. "Why?"

Joey's sofa is purple in colour. An odd choice, Yaz thought when she first laid eyes on it but now sitting her backside on it she realises the comfort of it must have come before the colour choice in the list of priorities. If her house gave off a colour it would be warm tones of orange outlined with cool blues that would coax any person into being relaxed like they’re taking a walk along the seafront at sunset. Yaz feels safe here, even having only been inside for a ten minutes. She thought Joey's habitat would be more of a jumble- an ocean of collectors trinkets and dust collectors to swim through, that pile high in each room, not an inch of space going unoccupied but she's strangely neat. There are barely any keys lying around for Yaz to try and unlock some of those mystery doors with. She thought she was coming here to get to know Joey better but there's a buzzing fear in her stomach that she might not get the chance. That she really is just here to watch a movie and keep her company on her strange purple sofa.

However not all of the sofa is purple. On the side Yaz sits while waiting for Joey to appear with her DVD of choice, there is a crochet blanket with more colours and patterns than Joseph's technicolour dream coat draped over the arm and corner. 

"Found it." Joey comes back not only with a plastic case in her hand and a black cat with crossed green eyes in the other. 

"I was wondering when your cats would show up." Yaz coos over the adorable, scruffy looking thing in Joey's arms.

“Were you admiring my handiwork?” Joey lights up at the insinuation that there’s a compliment coming her way. 

“You made this?” Yaz checks. 

Joey nods. “Well kind of. I added patches to it so it would fit the arm of the sofa because _someone_ is mute and doesn't meow to communicate but instead decides to rip up furniture.”

Joey kisses the cat in her arms before placing it down next to Yaz. Big bright green eyes look up at her (sort of, considering they're crossed), trying to figure out if she’s safe- but she must be safe because Joey has brought her home. 

“I didn't know that.” Yaz tries to make it look like she’s still invested in their conversation and not the animal that’s slowly sniffing her out. 

“His name is Void.” Joey moves to put the disc into her DVD player. Yaz should’ve guessed she would be one to favour physical copies over digital streaming. 

“Void? Oh because he's black.” Yaz realises as a wet nose sniffs at the back of her hand. 

“The other two are black too, they'll come through in a minute, I just fed them.” 

Joey sits next to her and Voids attention turns back to his mum, curling up in Joey’s lap but letting Yaz lightly stroke him still.

“Is there something particularly interesting about black cats then?” Yaz asks, wondering why Joey has this specific preference. 

“If you're not living like you would be tried for being a witch in the 1600s you're not living properly.” Joey says. Yaz looks up at her trying to decipher if she’s being serious or not until they’re giggling together. “Nah but seriously,” Joey continues. “you know they're harder to adopt because of superstition and stuff so… I always feel the need to pick up the unappreciated ones. Show them how much they are actually worthy of love and are important to people aka me.”

“What are the other two names?” Yaz asks, suddenly taking much more of an interest in Joey’s cats than the movie that’s starting to play in the background.

“Cosmic and Count Fangular- Fang for short. Or just ‘the Count’.” Joey says proudly.

“Should I ask?” Yaz chuckles. She should have guessed Joey wouldn’t have regular cat names. 

“Cosmic was already named, she's a sweetheart and the Count has a goofy tooth. You’ll see.”

“Right.” Yaz nods, tucking her legs up underneath herself. 

“Do I sound like a proper weird cat lady?” Joey questions her.

“To someone who doesn’t know how charming cats can be, maybe. But to me, you don’t.” 

If Yaz looks up she will see Joey grinning at her. Not at the cat in her lap, at _her_ because what she’s just said is refreshing for Joey to hear. Different to what she always gets told.

Cosmic and Count Fang come in after their dinner and find it much easier to trust Yaz than Void. The movie Yaz has been invited to watch plays purely as background noise while her and Joey redirect their attention to playing with the cats. Joey’s showing them off like they’re her pride and joy, just like when she’s at work and showing potential new families kittens that have only been with them at the center for a matter of days. The only issue Yaz has with spending their evening like this is that nothing other than information about her cats is coming out of Joey’s mouth. Yaz is leading the conversation, which is alright but she usually does that anyway. Once the pizza they’ve ordered to share arrives and they eat on floor, (Joey fighting off Count Fangula with every bite) Yaz lets a comfortable quiet fall over the two of them. She could easily fill it but in some ways she just wants Joey to not be able to bear it and spill just a little bit of information to satisfy her.

“I get very lonely.” Joey mumbles trying to pass it off like she's just making noise. 

“Huh?” Yaz has to ask to get her to speak up, thinking she’s imagined this slip of information.

“I get very lonely and cats don’t break your heart as much as humans do.” Joey throws her a somber smile. The vulnerability in the quiet tone of her voice captivates Yaz- being behaviours that Joey has never exhibited during a conversation between them before. Yaz pauses bringing her food to her mouth to show that Joey has her undivided attention. “You asked me earlier today if it really was a cat that I wanted, implying that I might want some human company. I don’t, I really do just want another cat. They’re like my own little companions.”

“I’m here keeping you company though. Doesn’t that count?” Yaz frowns. 

“Maybe I trust you more than you think.” Joey mumbles, trying to stop the corner of her lips curling up like this is a confession with weight to it. “We’re a lot alike.”

“I wouldn’t know. You haven’t really opened up and it’s been a year.” Yaz pokes at her for being so closed off. 

“Well let me change that.” Joey holds out her hand. It’s covered in pizza grease, so Yaz stares disapprovingly at it. “Oh, sorry.” Joey realises and wipes it on her trousers- not entirely what Yaz would have chosen to do but it works. 

“What am I shaking on, exactly?” Yaz asks, taking her hand anyway despite her lack of knowledge.

“I promise to be more open with you.”

“Why?”

“Because I like you. I like how you work and I like your energy.” Joey admits.

“My energy?” Yaz raises an eyebrow, not quite understanding.

“Oh my god just accept my offer. Come on. I like having you around me.” Joey squeezes Yaz’s hand and rolls her eyes at the other woman's hesitancy. 

“Fine but may I ask you a question Joey?” Yaz squeezes back and shakes on their deal. With the handshake Yaz feels like she’s just been passed an entire ring of heavy keys, each for her to try out at her own time on all sorts of different doors inside of Joey’s head. 

“Yeah but it depends if you get an answer.” Joey lets go of her hand to continue eating. 

“Why’d you invite me over tonight to tell me this? Staff Christmas outing is in like, two days, you could’ve just said then.”

Yaz watches as Joey wipes her hands clean on her clothes again so she can drag Void into her lap. Yaz huffs out a laugh being able to guess exactly what Joey is going to say.

“I wanted to show you my babies.” Joey grins stupidly. So stupidly it makes Yaz smile too and feel an equal amount of love for these three cats in her chest.

Every year on the last weekend of November the center staff and the veterinary practice have a joint Christmas party, taking turns each year to organise it. This year Ryan’s booked a couple of lanes at the local bowling alley and like usual, Yaz is one of the first to arrive. She stands off to the side near the shoes desk waiting for others to turn up and join her. 

She’s dressed up nice tonight. Proper nice with jewelry around her neck and perfume and makeup which usually she doesn’t bother with to a massive extent. Still the same leather jacket, still the same jeans still the same button up shirt but this specific year she just… wants to look good. She can’t explain it, there's just something in her head, a voice sitting on her shoulder whispering into her ear that she can’t ignore, telling her to present herself well tonight. Like it will mean something if she does.

In a similar fashion Joey turns up next looking equally as good in rust brown trousers and a white top all held up by a pair of mustard coloured braces. It only now occurs to Yaz that she’s never seen Joey outside of work attire before. 

“Hey.” Joey grins. Her teeth almost glow fluorescent under the ultraviolet lighting. She pulls Yaz into a welcoming hug. “You- wow you smell so good.” 

Joey pauses to lean back in and brushes her nose against Yaz’s neck in doing so. It’s an understandable thing to do but Yaz is taken back by it so much she feels a bubble of shock rise in the acid of her stomach. 

“You saying I don’t smell good the rest of the time?” Yaz asks playfully, gently pushing Joey back before she inhales too many chemicals and Yaz’s stomach lining starts to disintegrate. 

“No! I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant you look different out of work stuff. Scrub up nicely.” Joey smiles as she compliments, unashamedly running her eyes up and down Yaz. 

“You too.” Yaz repays the compliment and means it. Joey’s like a different person- same personality but with a different mind set than she has at work. She’s relaxed at work but she’s _really_ relaxed now, abandoning all personal space and for the first time ever there’s a bit of a silence between them that Yaz doesn’t know how to fill. They just stand looking at each other, smiling. 

“So where is everyone?” Joey cracks first, looking around trying to spot faces she recognises. 

“We’re here.” 

A few vets come in from the cold and abandon their coats followed by the rest of the people that work there. Martha is quick to greet the both of them before any of the over staff from the vets. They seem to have a lot more people than the center, multiple receptionists, veterinary nurses, qualified vets and office workers and Yaz is starting to wonder how this game is going to work between them all. Ryan and the other staff from the center arrive less than half a minute after Yaz and Joey have said hello to everyone and the shoe trade begins which takes up about five minutes, yet again reiterating Yaz’s belief that early is on time and on time is late. 

Ryan being the mastermind of this whole operation splits the group into two with a pre-prepared list of people. Most of the veterinary practise are one team but he takes Martha and three vet nurses to make up numbers on their side. Across two lanes the two groups start to order drinks and make noise and once all the names are punched into the TV screens that are about twenty years out of date Yaz sits down on the curved sofa squished between Ryan and the three vet nurses, opposite Martha, Joey and everyone else from the center. Watching Joey drape her arm comfortably around Martha’s shoulder that feeling Yaz pushed to the back of her mind the other day when Martha called Joey’s personal phone to pass on professional information resurfaces. They’re chummy and Yaz is kind of jealous that she doesn’t know how Martha has managed to break through Joey and get all that information Yaz desires. 

There are a few people before Yaz gets her first turn and as she gets up and picks a ball heavy enough to strike down pins but light enough for her to not pull a muscle lifting it, she’s ready to let out her own secret. She has a marvellous aim and a hell of a strength in her arms. She bowls and she knocks down all but one pin and as she turns back she hears Joey cheering. 

“Didn’t know you had that in you Yaz.” Joey smirks. 

“I’m not done yet.” Yaz gets cocky and retrieves her ball, throwing it down the lane, crossing one leg behind the other and realises she's way off. She turns back to see Joey chuckling at her. “Okay maybe I spoke too soon.” 

“You think?” Joey laughs, getting up to choose her ball.

Needing to know if Joey can do any better than her, Yaz refuses to look away as she pushes different coloured balls around to read their weights and sizes. She chooses and slips her thumb, middle and ring finger into the holes and picks it up like it’s nothing, the muscles in her arm lightly flexing under her glowing top. 

“Close your mouth you dumb lesbian.” Ryan whispers. 

“I wasn’t… not because of that!” Yaz hisses to defend herself without anyone else hearing. 

“You sure?” Ryan pesters. 

Joey does one better than Yaz and bowls a strike. Yaz ignores Ryan for a moment to indulge in Joey’s gloating.

“We’re on the same team Joey.” Martha reminds her, inviting her back into her seat and this time places her own arm over Joey’s shoulder. 

“Still beat Yaz though.” Joey winks over at her, making Yaz’s cheeks glow hot enough for her to notice.

It happens again when Joey gets her second go. And again when she takes her third, and her fourth and her fifth and by the sixth Yaz gives in and admits to herself that Ryan might be right. She’s always considered Joey good looking but she’s put that up to the fact that she’s almost always carrying a cat or kitten and that, to Yaz, makes anyone attractive. But now that she’s aware of how Joey looks through these new eyes with new knowledge she can’t deny that maybe she has a bit of a crush on Joey. A little bit. Maybe. A lot when she looks over and sees Martha whispering in her ear however Yaz considers what she’s witnessing a blessing. It settles it for her that Joey Smith is obviously unattainable and has her eye elsewhere. 

With Joey on their team the rescue center wins by a landslide and celebrates by shoving the score sheet in the faces of the vets as shoes are exchanged back over the sticky counter. Yaz considers the hygiene of this place. Once, a long time ago at maybe her sixth birthday party she went bowling and her mum got a text from another parent the next day about an infected finger. 

“I’m hungry.” Ryan says, holding his stomach. 

“Yeah, where are we going Ry?” Yaz asks. Bowling has been fun but it’s time to eat now.

“What d’you mean?” Ryan looks around everyone staring at him expectantly. 

“You did book somewhere for us to eat, right?” Yaz asks, her voice soundtracked by a few held breaths and rumbling stomachs. 

“Um…” 

“Ryan!” Yaz groans at him. God she loves him but sometimes he just doesn’t think things through fully. 

“Right, come on everyone there’s a fast food place down the road.” One of the new vets Yaz hasn’t had a chance to meet tonight says and without another word everyone follows his lead. 

The walk is short and Yaz spends it convincing her mate he’s not useless just because he forgot to book a table at a restaurant. He’s quite upset about it but seems to cheer up when he gets a burger meal in his hands. Yaz just gets some fries, not really craving more grease ridden food after her pizza with Joey a couple of days ago. As she eats she sits on her stool and chats with people about work and life and Christmas plans despite it still being a month away. These conversations become boring and repetitive after a while though, and Yaz tries to scout out Joey but the head of blonde hair can’t be found. 

“Ry.” Yaz taps him to get his attention. 

“Hm?” Ryan spins around with half a chip and a bit of wilted lettuce hanging out the corner of his mouth. 

“Where’s Joey gone?” She asks. 

“Dunno.” Ryan shrugs. “She’s gone too.” 

“Who?”

“Who d’you think.” Ryan sips at his milkshake. 

Yaz looks around one more time and doesn’t even realise who she’s specifically looking for until Martha is the face she can’t identify in the crowd. She doesn’t want to admit it, that they’ve both disappeared together, because then her mind starts wondering and she doesn’t want to go there. Joey is her friend. Her attractive friend who she likes a lot but still just her friend who doesn’t need her nose in her business. 

“Mate I’m gonna go.” Yaz retrieves her car keys deciding that she’s got enough food in her stomach to last her till morning. 

“Okay. Love you see you in the morning.” Ryan says. 

“Love you too dude.” 

“Morning Yaz.” Joey says, rubbing her eyes clear of sleep having only just rolled out of bed. 

“Morning Joey.” Yaz replies barely looking up from the table where she’s dishing out food for each cat. A lot more efficient than dragging the tub of food behind her which is only what she does when she’s feeling lazy. 

“Need a hand?” Joey offers. 

Yaz nods allowing Joey to dish up the last few portions by herself (but still under Yaz’s watchful eye since she’s known to overfeed the ones she likes- which is basically all of them). Never happy with total silence the blonde starts to hum a slow festive song to herself. It’s a popular tune and it rings a bell with Yaz but she can’t quite think up the lyrics. To stop herself from getting distracted from her work Yaz tries to block out the noise but what she can’t block out so easily is Joey slowly edging towards her, swinging her hips in time to her song until they’re hitting Yaz in her side. She has to pause serving food while Joey continues to invade her personal space, the humming getting louder and the sounds forming shapes. 

“ _I’ve been an awful good girl,”_

“Joey.” Yaz tries to push her back from singing into her ear but Joey’s breath stays hot against her skin refusing to back away, intent on teasing her until she cracks. But what she doesn’t know is that she has Yaz trying to control herself at the maximum at the very first note.

“ _Santa baby, so_ -”

“Joey!” Yaz forces herself to laugh despite taking a liking to Joey’s singing. She would let her continue to sing the whole song if she hadn’t woken up on a weird side of the bed this morning, putting her in an uncommonly anti-social mood with no explanation. 

“Alright fine.” Joey concedes, smirking to herself. “You’re fun to wind up, you know.” 

Yaz shakes her head wanting to leave this whole situation behind her and move on with her day, and starts to deliver food to hungry occupants. Joey follows behind her and they do their duties with Joey humming a different, less teasing tune to herself. As she unlocks cages and puts down food Yaz tries to silently get down to the cause of her mood. She doesn’t have to think too hard really. She wants to have the ability to make Joey as happy as she is now. She doesn’t clearly know why but she knows she wants to make her smile, make her content enough to sing to her all the time. Someone’s doing it, it’s not her and the more she thinks about that the tighter her chest gets.

“Where’d you go last night?” Yaz asks, not really realising that this is a question she needs the answer to. Just to be sure to settle her mind.

“Oh, Martha wanted an early night so I offered to take her home.” Joey explains simply but she smiles like she’s not telling the whole truth.

“Cool.” Yaz says, nodding sharply.

“Why’d you say it like that?” Joey picks up on Yaz’s tone instantly.

“No reason. You were just very friendly together.” Yaz shrugs hoping her shoulders will push away the question. 

“We’re friends, Yaz.” Joey reads between the lines and manages to assume Yaz’s assumptions. “Friends.”

“I was only-” 

“Friends.” Joey repeats, picking up a couple of bowls and heading for the screaming children made of fur. 

Yaz follows her shamefully to do the same. She shouldn’t have asked, she should have just made a comment about her leaving early and taken what Joey responded with at face value. Trusted her. Instead she questioned her and now she feels awkward as she works with her. 

“Um... Joey-”

“Don’t apologise.” Joey sighs heavily. 

“How do you know I was going to apologise?” Yaz asks. 

“I can feel how uncomfortable you are.” Joey closes the cage of the cat she’s just fed and throws a knowing smile at Yaz. Sometimes Yaz hates it when she does that. “It’s fine, honestly. It’s an expectable conclusion for you to make. I mean we did disappear without so much as a ‘merry christmas’ so… come on, let’s get this done and then go and hand out leaflets.”

The center has a stall in the indoor shopping center every year a few weeks before Christmas. The place is always bustling, especially so at Christmas, and to Yaz that means there’s a greater chance of someone in this crowd buying a dog or a cat or any other variation of pet as a present that will more or less be likely to end up at the center a week or so after new years when they realise how much work they are. The whole point of them being there is to remind everyone- not just those who might have been thinking about it- that the center exists and there _are_ abandoned pets occupying space there. However the more joyful side of it is talking to members of the public about possible adoptions in the future. Of course there isn’t a one-hundred percent success rate but it does give the center more traction. More of a chance to give these cats a home.

Joey stands a fair few meters away handing out pamphlets to every person who is unlucky enough to make eye contact with her. Yaz doesn’t doubt that they’ll find a few trampled on the floor or in bins as they leave but shifting them is better than not making themselves present at all and Joey is good at shifting them. She’s equally as talented with people as she is with cats, holding their smiles and getting them to walk towards her rather than away. There’s an undeniable charm that magentises strangers in towards her and Yaz can’t stop watching its effects. Kids especially like Joey, whether it be the mystery that surrounds her that Yaz is still yet to crack or the fact that she’s handing out leaflets about cats. It makes Yaz ponder over what could have happened to her to imply that she considers other people the source of heartbreak- and then how she can still be so kind. 

“Hi sweetheart.” 

The familiar outline of Najia Khan appears in the corner of Yaz’s vision, breaking her blatant one sided staring match with Joey.

“Mum, what are you doing here?” Asks Yaz, smiling that her mum has taken the time to come and see her, having taken note of her schedule. 

“Can’t a woman go shopping on her break?” She asks, digging around in her bag before pulling out a meal deal from the cafe on the other side of the mall. “Here, I brought you lunch.”

“Thanks mum.” Yaz takes it gratefully, already regretting that she only packed a weak salad for herself.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise you were doing this with someone else or I would’ve-”

“It’s okay, I’ll share with her.” Yaz says, already knowing that Joey is too gracious to take food when it’s a gift. 

“Is that Joey?” Najia asks nodding in her direction.

“Yeah.” Yaz can answer confidently without looking. 

“Why don’t her trousers reach her ankles?” She whispers.

“Shut up mum!” 

“You’re not too old for a telling off, you know.” Najia kisses her cheek lovingly but Yaz is aware of the legitimacy of the threat. Never a good idea to talk back to Najia Khan. “See you later.”

“Bye mum.” 

Yaz checks the battery percentage of the tablet on the table showing some of the residents at the center as her mum walks off to get on with the rest of her day but as she reaches for the charger, she senses her mum stopping to talk to Joey. She looks up to see Najia shaking Joey’s hand and introducing herself. Yaz’s brain is telling her to run over there, stop her mum from saying something embarrassing or simply a lie that will paint Yaz in a bad light. From seeing pictures over the past year Najia has already decided that Joey would be the perfect partner for Yaz- an assumption that Yaz hasn’t entertained at all until now when Joey smiles back at her and her little crush inflates a level in every essence of her being. Yaz desperately wants to interrupt but she can’t abandon the table or the donation pot that sits on it, so she bites her tongue, death stares at her mother and waits for Joey to come and get some more leaflets to hand out. 

“What did she say to you?” Yaz asks, not giving Joey a chance to say anything first. 

“That she’s disappointed we’ve not been introduced sooner.” Joey sits herself down to eat her packed lunch.

“Why would I introduce you to her? I don’t live with her anymore, it’s not like I’m going to take you home for dinner.” 

“I’d like it if you took me home for tea.” Joey shrugs her shoulders up to her ears. 

“Yeah?” Yaz grins. 

“Yeah.” Joey grins down at their pop up table. 

Yaz feels herself blushing and shuffling papers. It’s a small thing. A little suggestion that Joey considers them friends outside of work that means so much but Yaz can’t show it. Except she is showing it by how she’s staying quiet and smiling at a stack of paper. Joey’s standing next to her too doing a similar thing with her food. 

“Well…” Yaz voices her idea as it comes to her, not allowing herself to overthink what she’s about to say. “maybe tonight you cou-”

Yaz’s voice gets drowned out by Joey’s phone ringtone which she promptly attends to, pushing anything Yaz was about to say to the side.

“Oh! Sorry, it’s Martha.” Joey answers without missing a beat- all while missing how Yaz’s face falls. “‘ello.” 

Yaz recoils into herself. The interruption feels like a punch in the gut and a warning at the same time. Maybe she was stopped from inviting Joey over for a reason. Maybe she was stepping out of line and the universe decided it was best to save her some embarrassment. 

“How many?” Joey asks the vet on the other end of the line. Her tone is completely different to what it was a minute ago. “And the mother...? Well I’ll- one of us will come and see if we can take them. Alright. See you in a bit. Kisses.” 

“Kisses?” Yaz mutters at Joey as she flicks her phone shut. 

“Just something I- nevermind, do we have the capacity to take five kittens that are like, literally three or four days old?”

“Yes, why?” Yaz feels her own demeanor shift into ultra work mode with the thought of animals in possible danger. 

“Someone found a litter behind the bins of their building trying to feed off… well their dead mum.”

“That’s horrible.” Yaz cringes, feeling her stomach tighten. 

“Could you feed my cats tonight? I feel like I might be working on this for a while and Fang will just-” 

“Course.” Yaz agrees without needing to hear the exaggerated explanation. A favour is a favour and she doesn’t mind. 

“Thank you. There’s a key under the flowerpot.” 

What Joey didn’t tell her is that the flowerpot is so heavy she’ll have to turn into an Olympic weightlifter to retrieve the spare key. Luckily she’s strong enough, but has to inspect her fingers and the key to make sure neither have been flattened in the process. For a moment as she sticks it into the lock she thinks it’s broken because the door won’t budge however the lock clicks, and the door continues to stay shut. It’s like it knows it’s not Joey trying to gain entry and the hinges are staying glued.

“Come on, I have permission.” Yaz grumbles, trying to put as much of her body weight against the blue piece of wood without it looking like she’s breaking in. 

Like it’s listening the house grants Yaz entry, letting her visibly pull out the spare key as proof of her legitimacy to anyone watching her struggle. She flicks on the light in the hallway and is immediately greeted by five black balls, one halfway up the stairs and two at the bottom. Yaz feels like she’s being confronted by a gang especially as there are no other lights on, creating a gloomy backdrop.

“Why is this place far more creepy when Joey’s not here?” Yaz asks the cats like they’re going to be able to give an in depth after. They just stare. “Hey. Do you… remember me?” 

More blank stares and a tilted head from Void. God they really are cute, it’s understandable why Joey’s rescued solely black cats. 

“You want food?” Yaz asks. 

The last word catches their attention and all three run into the dark, guiding Yaz to the kitchen. She really doesn’t want to rummage around Joey's cupboard and belongings, that’s rude no matter how close you are to the homeowner so she puts herself into Joey’s mindset. These cats are smart so their food probably isn’t kept in a lower cupboard so where’s the next best space. Yaz thinks while Cosmic jumps up onto the counter and Fang rubs his head around her legs. Void still seems to be wary of Yaz but she takes no offence to it. On top of being a stranger she must smell of all the other cats she deals with in a day. 

Yaz spots a tub of dry food, similar to the one they have at work, and there’s no sign of any packets of wet food hanging around. She wishes Joey had given her a few more instructions just to make it clear but she seemed to have been very distracted by Martha’s phone call. Yaz puts it down to her caring so much. Not the fact that it’s Martha calling on her in an hour of need. 

One of the fluff balls meows at her, she doesn’t see which one, begging her to get on and feed them not because they’re hungry but because they can see it’s coming and they’re getting impatient. She pours out a scoop into each bowl and while the animals munch she gives them fresh water too. Yaz kind of wants to stay a while to give them company and play, at least until Joey comes back but who’s to say how soon Joey will come home. She shouldn’t outstay her welcome but she will wait until the cats are done eating. 

As she waits, she hears a sound come from above her. Unless Joey got a fourth cat without telling her there should be no reason for any sound to be coming from upstairs and it does make the hairs on the back of her neck stand up to a notable degree. 

“I won’t be a moment.” Yaz mumbles to the cats then shakes her head realising how strange she sounds.

In some ways Yaz is expecting the worst. Someone scaling up the back of her house and climbing through a window ready to steal a valuable possession of Joey’s. Walking up the stairs as quietly as she can, waiting to hear another noise to figure out if she’s just imagining the danger, Yaz tries to figure out where exactly the sound would have come from. To the right of her when she reaches the top is a bathroom, to the left of her looks like an empty spare room with a desk, but right in front of her is- by deduction- is Joey’s room. Yaz peers into the bathroom, nothing looks wrong. She checks the spare room and there’s barely anything in it to make a noise. There doesn’t seem to be any other indication of an intruder and if Yaz was in any other persons house but Joey’s she would just call out and leave but it _is_ Joey’s house. Joey who still hasn’t really let her in. 

It would just be a glimpse. Just a glimpse of her room to make sure everything’s okay, she’s not going to pry or anything. Just check. 

Her feet drive her into Joey’s room rather than her brain. She’s not exactly sure what she was expecting but her room kind of matches her expectations. Unmade bed, clothes in a couple of piles on the floor, a dresser. Then she finds the source of the sound. Books lay splayed out from where they’ve evidently fallen from her bedside table. There are about ten books all cascading in the same formation as they were probably standing. Joey should really get a proper bookshelf and not just stack them up so high until they fall. 

Again, the better half of Yaz is telling her to just leave. Joey will find her books on the floor and stack them up again when she gets home. If Yaz stacks them now, she’ll know she was in her room, but that fact isn’t stopping Yaz from moving towards it. It’s a mess and Yaz fixes messes. 

The first she picks up is something sciency, she can tell by the flash of a diagram she sees. The second is one Yaz is more familiar with about the basic care of rescued, fostered and adopted felines, one Yaz had to read as an introductory to one of her courses (Joey must have been brushing up). The rest are all sci-fi, fantasy, adventure make-belief fiction that Yaz kind of knew Joey would read. It matches her personality greatly and whenever Joey gets distracted by nothing in particular Yaz imagines she’s thinking about a world in her head with characters premade for her to play out whatever fantasies she wants. The last book Yaz picks up is worn on the spine and clearly a favourite of its owners. She expects it to follow a pattern- maybe it holds one of Joey’s favourite worlds inside it that she likes to revisit for comfort, like returning home on a cold winter's day to find the heating’s been put on. Yaz flips it over in her hand to see the cover- perhaps it might catch her interest too and she could buy a copy, read it and talk to Joey about her favourite parts- and she finds that this isn’t part of any of the genres she thought. It’s a romance. A sappy looking, slow build love story that spans about five hundred pages. Perhaps Joey’s a bit of a romantic after all. 

She places the book on top of the newly stacked pile and heads home thinking no more of it. Other than ordering a new romance novel. 

She’s first in again, or so Yaz thinks. Seeing Joey laying on the floor with her fleece under her head as a pillow and a blanket over her body to keep her warm, with a cardboard box full of kittens next to her under a heat lamp in the middle of a consultation room is not what she expects to see first thing in the morning but not she can’t stop looking. Joey slept here, on the floor, overnight to make sure these kittens are safe. It makes Yaz’s heart swell with pride and admiration, but at the same time she can’t let Joey stay curled up in this ball. 

Yaz crouches to rest her hand on the tired blonde’s shoulder but pauses. Joey looks so at peace when she sleeps. Maybe she shouldn’t wake her and let her have a few more minutes kip. 

“Hey. Hey, Joey.” She shakes her awake anyway. 

Joey startles then stretches, a lot like a cat really. “What time is it?” She yawns, not questioning at all as to why Yaz is hovering above her. 

“About half eight.” 

“I didn’t mean to stay this long.” Joey groans, rubbing her face awake. 

“Did you go home at all yesterday?” Yaz asks. 

“What does it look like?” Joey says, sitting herself upland peering into the cardboard box. She refrains from touching them, keeping them smelling like cats rather than humans so they don’t get too attached. Two tabby cats and a white one, bundled together as they sleep.

“I thought you said there were five of them.” Yaz says as her maths doesn’t add up.

“Two didn’t make it.” Joey sighs, grieving two lives she never got to touch.

“Surely they should still be at the vets if they’re at risk of-”

“No, it’s fine. They said these three were strong enough they just needed to stay warm for a bit. I contacted the foster families we have on file too last night so we should get a reply soon.” 

“I love how much you care.” Yaz mumbles. 

“They’re only babies.” Joey yawns again and Yaz notices her eyes widening more than usual half way through. “Oh my god, _my_ babies! They’re gonna want breakfast and they’ve been all alone!” The blonde jumps up, unsteady on her feet and having to grab onto Yaz to balance herself. 

“Hey, Joey don’t rush back alright? If you need a couple hours sleep and a shower take your time.” Yaz insists. 

“I will be back though.”

“I don’t doubt that. You’re almost as hard to get rid of as I am.” Yaz laughs at her determination while she’s still fumbling around waking up.

“Thank you for popping in and feeding them last night though that really helped me out.” Joey says while she collects the blankets she slept on.

“Oh, um…” Yaz decides in the split second of her hesitancy to come clean about exploring Joey’s house (which wasn’t really a full exploration but she still feels like she intruded enough to at least mention it). “I ended up in your bedroom last night.”

“You did?” Joey’s face comes over with confusion and Yaz understands why. There was absolutely no need for Yaz to be in her room.

“Yeah, there was a big noise and I thought it might be someone breaking in but your books just fell, that’s all. So I picked them all up.” Yaz explains. Joey’s face relaxes as she understands.

“Oh, okay that’s fine then. Thanks for doing that too.” 

Joey grabs her coat, manages to put it on her back to protect her from the outside cold but doesn’t make it to the outside. She pauses, standing over the box of kittens, locking her gaze onto them and fixating, stopping herself from leaving because she’s already too attached.

“They’ll be fine with me Joey.” Yaz has to reassure her. 

“But the other cats-”

“We’re not the only people that work here.” She adds a firmness to her voice to get Joey to leave. She has to leave, she can’t stay like this having only had a few broken hours of sleep. Mistakes will be made and with kittens so young the center can’t risk that.

“Alright. You’re right. I’ll be back in a bit.” 

Joey doesn’t come back. Unfortunately Joey also forgot to press send on her email to the trusted foster families and now the center is stuck with them for another night. Yaz doesn’t let Joey know, just in case she then decides to come back and spend another night on the floor. Yaz takes them home along with some of the milk formula and wakes up every few hours of the night to feed them and tend to them when they scream. They’re so small and Yaz feels like every time she picks them up she’s going to hold them too tight or break them by mistake. Ryan’s more confident at handling them when Yaz brings them back in the morning- he promised to come in early to help Yaz out- and Joey insists on giving each tiny kitten a little cuddle when she feeds them through the rest of the day. Which is also her way of apologising to them for not sorting their foster families when she should have.

It may be her tiredness and it may also be how Joey’s let her hair go wavy today but seeing the blonde carry around and cuddle and kiss and be gentle with the multi-coloured kittens pushes Yaz skin into goosebumps. She wishes Joey didn’t have such a big heart. She wishes she wasn’t so shut off to the idea of dating. She wishes she had paid more attention to how beautiful Joey is before now. 

Yaz shakes herself out of it before Ryan can make fun of her again. 

The kittens get handed over to more capable hands in the box they arrived in just before they close up the center for the night and the broken sleep from the night before has finally caught up to Yaz. She wants to go to bed as soon as possible but Ryan is hanging around like a bad smell and she can tell that the end of her day isn’t quite in her reach yet. 

“Yaz.” Ryan eventually plucks up the courage to talk to her. 

“What do you want Ryan?” Yaz grumbles, fully prepared to just make her bed in the staff break room. 

“Don’t sound so harsh.” He tries to butter her up with his voice. “I need your help.” 

“With what?” Yaz asks. 

“There’s a cat-”

“No.” Yaz turns to leave, already knowing where this is going and not wanting any part in it at this time in the evening. 

“Wait, Yaz hear me out.”

“Get Joey to do it.” Yaz grumbles reaching for the door.

“Joey’s going on a date tonight.”

Yaz freezes. Is it the realisation that she’s going to have to do this task or the disappointment of the words Ryan’s said. She turns.

“She is?” Yaz asks. Ryan gives her a pitiful look. 

“There’s a cat that needs picking up an hour or so away. The vet that’s holding it now doesn't really have the room to keep it there overnight and it would’ve been coming here tomorrow anyway.”

“What happened to it?” Yaz sighs, accepting that she’s going to have to do this. 

“It’s owner passed away. Old man. He left it to us to make sure it would be rehoused.” 

“Okay fine.” Yaz agrees since she now feels she has the responsibility to carry through a dead man's wishes. “Ryan.”

“Yeah?” 

“Who- um… who’s Joey… you know...?” Yaz shuffles as she automatically regrets even mentioning the fact she’s taken note of where Joey is.

“I don’t know who she’s going on a date with Yaz.” Ryan has to fill in the gaps. 

“What’s the address?” Yaz shakes herself out of her embarrassment. 

Ryan scribbles the details down on a bit of scrap paper and Yaz sets off at a quickened pace. She knows the town she’s going to. It’s a quaint little place that will no doubt already have its Christmas lights up so at least Yaz will have something to entertain her and keep her awake while she’s there. She listens to the radio, tries to pay attention to the music played and the news read out to her but her concentration only lasts a minute or so at a time before her mind slips to Joey. Joey on her date. Joey on her date with a faceless person. She’s not really faceless though is she. Yaz has a strong suspicion as to who it is but refuses to let her name come into her head because a name creates a face and faces tell a story. Yet her mind is so preoccupied as to what they may or may not be doing Yaz finds herself parking up in an empty vet car park and staring at the ginger woman waiting in the window going over some papers, wasting time waiting for Yaz to turn up. Composing herself, Yaz steps out and enters the building. 

“Doctor Donna Noble?” Yaz asks. 

“You must be Yaz Khan. Hi.” The vet shakes her hand warmly. “Sorry to drag you over here. If we didn’t she’d be sleeping in a travel crate tonight.”

“No problem.” Yaz insists while holding back the need to yawn. 

“Come through.” 

Donna leads her behind the receptionists desk and through to where pets that are having to stay overnight due to surgery or observation are. Her arrival disturbs a couple of dogs who start to bark at her, not out of fear but for attention. Or maybe food, it’s around the time dogs get fed. Humans too, and Yaz suddenly starts to feel hungry as well as tired. On top of a temporary table in the corner to Yaz’s left sits a travel crate evidently not empty. 

“That’s her. Beautiful nine year old black and white baby.” Donna says. “A little chubby but that’s what you get when your owner forgets if he’s fed you or not for a year.”

Yaz gives her a polite chuckle and bends, turning her body into a perfect right angle to have a look.

“Hello.” Yaz says. The cat meows in her face; golden eyes staring back at her. “What’s her name?” 

“Venus.” 

“Cute.” Yaz mutters and picks up the crate, knowing that Joey will be appreciative of the space themed name. “Ready to go, Venus?” 

“All her documents have been sent over to Ryan.” Donna says, escorting Yaz out of the building just as quickly as she showed her in. 

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you for coming to get her.” Donna opens the food for Yaz and a sudden wave of chilling air through her clothes and to her bones. “Make sure she goes to a good home.” 

“Will do.” Yaz says not bothering to turn around, too desperate to get back to the warmth of her car. 

She straps Venus in to make sure she doesn’t go flying if she breaks a little too hard and sets off. Yaz mutes the radio not wanting to deafen the cat but it also means every noise the enclosed cat makes. Every time she talks, Yaz replies like it’s a human in her passenger seat and the cat replies back and so on and so on. Yaz thinks about how her previous owner was an old man and how much comfort a noisy cat would have given him, especially in his last few days. Hopefully someone else will soon experience that level of comfort. She’ll get to the center, set Venus up in a room and deal with updating the website in the morning with pictures and details. 

When she pulls up, parking atrociously since there’s no one here to complain to her about it, she notices that all the lights are out. Ryan’s gone home and although Yaz thought he would be kind enough to stay and help she doesn’t blame him for going. The night is aging and the temperature of the air makes Yaz shiver almost uncontrollably. It's chiling her to the bone. 

“Bastard.” She mutters as shaking hands can’t get the key into the lock all while resting a heavy cat on her leg. 

Eventually making an entry she disturbs all the other occupants that have already settled down for a nap. Yaz doesn’t like to think about the ruckus they make when they’re awake in the early morning, before any humans arrive to hear them calling for food or to be let out to roam. It doesn’t bear thinking about. She opens one of the empty cages at the end and sets the travel crate inside, taking off the door to let Venus cautiously exit. The big orange eyes find Yaz and Yaz can almost empathetically feel her fear and uncertainty of being moved to a new place. 

“You’re beautiful, aren’t you.” Yaz can’t help but reach her hand into the metal box to let her sniff her hand. She strokes her palm over the black and white fur and the animal starts to purr and nuzzle into her. “I promise you’ll get snapped up as soon as possible and then you’ll get to go home. Get a new family and it’ll be warm and you can sleep wherever you want in the house and you won’t be trapped in a cage.” 

Yaz withdraws her hand, takes away the travel crate and replaces it with a blanket. The second she closes and locks the cage door Venus meows at her, giving her an immense bout of guilt. 

“I’m sorry. I’ll be back in the morning.”

Yaz arrives at the same time as Joey, breaking her ‘always early’ code for the sake of an extra half hour in bed, but at least it means they can serve the breakfasts together and break down the workload. Joey puts on the radio and has a very notable spring to her step this morning. Yaz guesses she had a great night last night. Which is brilliant for Joey, she’s glad for Joey, but for Yaz it makes her feel detached from her. Not just because she kind of wishes it was her that put Joey in such a good mood but also because Joey promised to be more of a friend with her yet she doesn’t tell her that she’s going on a date. That’s what friends do right? Let each other know if they’re meeting up with people.

As they dish out the food into the multiple bowls in front of them Joey starts to shuffle next to her to the beat and rhythm of the song currently playing, inching closer and closer until she’s pushing into Yaz’s side trying to get her attention. 

“Stop it.” Yaz laughs lightly, not prepared to go through all of this again. 

“Cheer up.” Joey elbows Yaz’s arm then picks up as many bowls as she can carry. “Only twenty five more sleeps till Christmas.”

“You know I’m a Muslim, right?” Yaz smirks. 

“And I don’t believe in a specific God yet that doesn’t stop me wearing tacky jumpers and pulling my own cracker.” Joey’s head whips back through the open door frame. “That last part sounded wrong.” 

“You don’t say.” Yaz chuckles to herself. 

There are several long beats of the normal quiet before Joey shouts in surprise. 

“Ah!” 

“You alright Joey?” Yaz asks, abandoning her post worrying that Joey’s hurt herself or dropped food. 

“Yaz!” 

Yaz rushes to save Joey from whatever predicament she’s got herself into but finds her instead abandoning giving out food to the screaming cats and instead focusing on the new black and white addition. 

“Who is she?” Joey says, sounding like she’s on the verge of tears and dragging the cat into her arms and the cat trustingly lets her. 

“Her name’s Venus. I picked her up last night.” 

Yaz explains while she picks up and hands out food like Joey should be doing. 

“Oh my god hello! Hello, look at you. How old are you?” 

“Nine.” Yaz says. 

“A baby!” Joey’s eyes light up along with her smile. 

Yaz is adamant on getting her tasks done before she starts swooning over Joey being in love with this cat she’s only just met, but eventually she has to give the new cat some food and when she places the dish down in the cage Venus shows no interest in it; only in Joey. The cat and the human have an equal amount of interest in each other and Yaz has never seen a cat trust an unknown and unfamiliar person before. She herself stops to gently give Venus some head scratches, unable to resist the charms of a cat wanting love.

“Why’s she here?” Joey mumbles. 

Yaz sighs. “Owner passed away.” 

“Poor baby.”

Joey kisses the black patch on top of Venus’ head- an adorable gesture but too close to Yaz’s knuckles making her skin rise up in goosebumps all the way up her arm. _Stop it,_ she wills herself. _Don’t make it inappropriate._

She takes a deep breath and forces herself to talk. “Ryan needs to print off her details actually. I should remind-”

“Tell him not to.” Joey says. 

Yaz pauses, confused. “What?”

“Can you ask him not to?” Joey asks, adjusting how she’s holding Venus in her arms so it’s like the cat is hugging her.

“Joey…” 

“What? I want to adopt her and you said yourself I can have any pick of the ones here. Come on Yaz, look at her. She’s my fourth. Please.” Joey begins the process of begging. 

“She’s been an only cat for nine years, are you sure she’ll merge with your other cats?” Yaz asks to make her friend think. 

“I’ll make it work.” 

“Okay, what if I come and observe you introducing them. As a level headed third party.” Yaz offers.

“I am level headed.” Joey pouts, skin on her face crinkling into unimpressed lines. Yaz folds her arms tightly across her stomach. 

“Joey you’re cradling her like she’s already yours.” 

“Alright, fine.” Joey gives in. 

After work Yaz goes home with Joey and Venus. She takes a moment to pause in awe of how easily Joey opens the door, even asking whether she’s oiled the hinges or changed the lock since she had to come. Joey hasn’t and she doesn’t bother to ask why Yaz is asking. She just wants to get in and get Venus acquainted with the others as soon as possible because she knows if she manages that, that means she can keep her. 

“I’ll let her out in here, let her sniff around then I’ll introduce the others one at a time.” Joey explains. 

“You know if this works she won’t be leaving again.” Yaz reminds her.

“Don’t get me excited.” Joey grins up at her like a child unwrapping their first present on Christmas morning. 

“And you know if we did this properly we would bring something that smells of your cats to the center first.”

“I know!” Joey whines at her. “I get that you’re meant to be the sensible one here but c’mon Yaz.” 

“Go on then.”

Yaz stands back and lets Joey do the work, getting on her knees to release the front of the cage then shuffling back on them to give the cat space. When she slowly emerges she looks smaller. Just a little rectangle of black and white fur trying to make an impression on the new room. Yaz gently approaches and takes the cat's blanket to rub it on the corners of furniture she passes as she leaves the room. 

She finds Joey’s cats all hanging out together in the kitchen and upon her arrival they swarm on her, hitting their heads against her leg and meowing at her. Yaz pets them all one by one then places the piece of cloth down for them all to sniff and get used to the scent. With the three black kids occupied, Yaz sneaks out again and returns to Joey- who is cradling Venus in her lap.

“I was gone for literally a minute.” Yaz scorns her. 

“But-”

“Let her walk around Joey.” Yaz puts her food down. 

Again, Joey does as Yaz says, knowing deep down that she does have to take this seriously otherwise it could go wrong very quickly. Venus walks the perimeter of the room and Joey stands by Yaz as she watches. Yaz has never seen- no… _felt_ Joey so nervous for something to work out. She’s trying so hard to stand still it’s almost making her vibrate.

“Chill out Joey.” Yaz whispers and rests the palm of her hand between her friend's shoulder blades. “Go and pick a cat to bring in first.”

“They’re all dickheads.”

“Shut up, they’re all well behaved.” Yaz giggles then pushes Joey forward so that she has to go and get one. 

Instead, Joey comes back with all three. She carries Void and Fang while Cosmic walks parallel to her master. Yaz likens them to a pathetic looking gang but she has no time to dwell on a more specific description of the sight because she can already see Venus clocking the three other animals and looking for somewhere to go to protect herself. 

“You sure about this Joey?” Yaz asks warily. 

Joey doesn’t respond, just places down her cats and makes sure that the door stays open enough for the cats she already has to leave if they want to. Everything in Yaz is telling her that this is wrong, they’re completely going against proper protocol and Grace would have hated her for allowing this to happen but she can’t go back on her decision now. She can’t just pick up Venus and run away. 

Despite Yaz’s hesitancy the most extraordinary occurrence happens. Void simply jumps up and settles down on the back of the sofa, unbothered. Fang follows Cosmic over to where Venus is hiding in the corner making Yaz hold her breath but they stop about a ruler's length away and simply observe. Venus hisses, which Yaz expects, but doesn’t show any other physical signs of defense. Then, amazingly, Cosmic decides to roll over and lay on her back, exposing her tummy Joey sighs with delight, glancing over at Yaz with a hopeful glint in her eye. So hopeful that Yaz puts down her sensible front and genuinely smiles. 

Yaz doesn’t remember when she changed into a shimmering ball gown. She doesn’t remember entering the ballroom at all but perhaps she’s been too distracted by the twinkling chandelier above her head. She stands alone, in the middle of the room with everyone else swaying around her in their gowns and suits all partnered up, envying their connections- so strong that all of the couples move around her like she’s an invisible force they just float away from. Noone dares tread near her. 

“You look amazing.” 

Joey's voice floats in from behind her. Yaz spins, the skirt of her dress following with a one second delay creating enough of a breeze to disturb the tails of Joey's tailcoat. She’s dressed like she’s the most distinguished gentleman in the room; suave and stylish but her trousers still don’t reach properly. Joey takes one of Yaz’s hands and bows until pink lips press against dark knuckles, making her skin tickle. 

“Thank you.” Yaz blushes. 

Subtly, the pair of them fall into a graceful hold. Joey’s hand resting on Yaz’s waist, Yaz’s resting on Joey’s shoulder and their other hands locked in together. 

“I don’t know how to dance.” Yaz whispers before they start and she ends up making a fool of herself. 

“Yes you do.” Joey smiles comfortingly, somehow managing to give her all the confidence she lacks in this moment.

Yaz has no idea how she’s not crushing Joey’s toes with every step she takes. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registers and acknowledges that she shouldn’t be able to be doing this. She can’t dance, she’s never had a lesson in her life, but it doesn’t matter. With their eye contact unbreaking her and Joey seem to have a telepathic link, letting the more talented one of them control both bodies they smoothly glide over the shining floor with not so much as a single misstep. The longer Yaz stares with her body moving around the room in all sorts of ways, their bodies never moving a centimeter apart, the more Joey begins to look less and less like the woman Yaz knows. The green in her eyes is too bright, losing all traces of hazel. Her cheekbones are too sharp and her skin is too smooth with no freckles, no blemishes, but the small details aren’t stopping her from smiling as they dance. This closeness, this intimacy Yaz has been craving without truly knowing it is being handed to her on a silver platter.

Joey breaks their visual connection but they keep moving like the floor is their own and Yaz has never felt so happy. The blonde dips her head so that Yaz can feel the tip of her nose brushing against her neck. Yaz can almost feel the bugs in her stomach starting to dance too, feasting on her emotions, rotting her from the inside out. _This is wrong._

“Spin for me.” 

Joey pushes Yaz away, spins her until she’s dizzy then pulls her back making the fronts of their two bodies collide and the second they do, Yaz wakes up into the early morning darkness.

She can’t dance. She never has danced. And Joey’s eyes were too green.

“Oh no…” Yaz mumbles to herself, pulling her pillow over her eyes.

The phantom feeling of Joey’s body pressed against hers stays with her for her entire day off. It’s irritating the way it distracts her, making her imagine she’s back in the dreamt up ballroom, dressed to the nines, feeling safe in Joey’s arms. Her stupid strong arms that she wishes would just hug her. Hold her.

The illusion of Joey’s imprint, however, makes a timely exit when the woman in question bursts into the meal prep room the next day with headphones over her ears and her phone in her hand, doing some clunky and off beat dance moves that look like they’ve come straight out of the seventies. No elegance, no posture that took hours of training to perfect, just Joey dancing like a middle aged dad of three at a wedding- and that, truly, is what makes Yaz smile. She knows it’s real because she can feel the muscles in her face putting in the work. 

“Shit!” Joey hisses, only just managing to catch a tub of cat treats after hitting it with a flailing arm.

“You idiot.” Yaz laughs.

Joey aggressively flicks her head back to make her headphones fall and land around her neck. “Huh?” 

“I said you’re lucky they didn’t fall everywhere.” Yaz says. 

“Funny Yaz, your voice says that now but your lips said something else.” Joey’s eyebrows fly into her hairline as she calls her out on her bullshit lie. 

“I said you’re an idiot.” She admits with no reluctancy.

Joey rids herself of her coat and scarf while Yaz punches in the time on the microwave that she needs to heat up her lunch. 

“Why do we even have these in here?” Joey mutters as she prepares herself for the start of her shift. 

“Gift.” Yaz gives her an answer. The microwave pings and in a rush to get on and fill her stomach before she goes home, Yaz almost burns her fingertips taking out the bowl but at least the heat numbs her fingers enough to carry it onto a tray. “How’s Venus?”

“Yeah, good first night I think. If I could I would’ve done the transition part a bit slower but… it is what it is.” Joey flicks the switch on the kettle. 

“You just wanted her out of this prison.” Yaz says. The cats that come in from the streets know no better but Venus was loved for a full nine years in a house and was suddenly restricted to one room.

“Here is nothing like prison.” Joey mumbles, wrestling with the teabag tin.

“How’d you know?” Yaz asks. 

Joey flicks the switch on the kettle again, stopping it from doing its job. It’s an odd thing to do especially as Joey abandons her mug on the side to come and sit opposite Yaz on the other sofa. 

“I went to prison once.” Joey quietly confesses. 

“Yeah right.” Yaz rolls her eyes and digs into her food. Only halfway through chewing her mouthful does she realise that Joey’s not talking. She raises her eyes and sees Joey nervously rubbing the palm of her hand with her thumb leaning forward with her head hanging low but still looking forward. Yaz swallows. “Oh my god you served a prison sentence.”

“Not my finest hour.” Joey sighs, almost like she’s laughing at the past version of herself. 

“What did you do? I mean if I’m allowed to- can you ask people who have been to prison that? Is that allowed or is it rude?”

“I was young and irritable and I punched someone. Pretty hard, as hard as the pavement they landed on so… eighteen months and a broken shoulder later...” 

Joey tails off as her memories of that time evidently come flooding back. Yaz would never undermine anyone’s experiences but she does secretly think Joey’s being a bit dramatic. Yes it’s a shock that she used to be a bit violent but she sounds like a totally different person now. Reformed, refined, wouldn’t hurt a fly- well… maybe someone who’s neglecting their pets, Yaz wouldn’t doubt that. She got in a bad fight years ago and got caught. So what? 

“Has this changed your opinion of me?” Joey asks.

“For the better.” Yaz says. 

“How? Why?” Joey’s brow crinkles with Yaz’s answer not being what she expected. 

“I would never trade you for reliable and dull.”

Joey physically perks up with relief. Yaz can tell that sharing this information has pushed them closer together, adding another layer to Yaz’s knowledge of Joey and Joey can’t seem to stop grinning at her now that she’s shared. Yaz tries to continue to eat her lunch but she too is silently smiling far too much to do anything else with her mouth. Plus, she can feel that Joey’s not taking her eyes off of her.

“Why are you still staring at me?” Yaz asks, keeping her own eyes on the food in her lap.

“Not staring. Just admiring.”

Yaz pinches her lip between her teeth just lightly enough to stop herself from laughing at Joey’s flattery; not because she finds her attention funny but because she’s not sure how to process Joey’s platonic affections without turning them into something they’re not. She looks up timidly and there it is again, that trusting look in Joey’s eyes, the vulnerability back again. In her head Yaz hears the chink of a key twisting in a lock, keeping this part of Joey open. 

“Why’s this kettle not on? I want tea.” 

Ryan bursting into the break room wipes the smiles off of the two women's faces. Yaz doesn’t understand why the two of them react in such a way but she quickly assumes that it’s because Ryan doesn’t know about her criminal past. Then she remembers that that’s stupid because Ryan is essentially their boss and Joey would have had to declare such a thing before she accepted the job. As Yaz eats and Joey makes two cups of tea with an unhealthy amount of sugar in each she stays quiet, trying to figure out how this revelation has made her feel. Only when she’s scraping the last few scraps onto her fork does she realise that it was simply just a moment with Joey. A pure moment that she knows was special between the two of them but _still_ she can’t put her finger on why. They are friends. Friends. 

A week passes filled with visitors, a couple of adoptions but unfortunately a small influx of cats that have been left abandoned. Yaz has to stop Joey from taking even more home for herself before her house becomes the new center, especially as a black and ginger cat with only one eye seems to have caught her attention. Joey listens to her. It’s strange because they’ve always listened to each other but now it’s like Joey is hanging onto every word Yaz says. They’re laughing more, having more conversations that aren’t just about work, mixing in some play with their work when they’re on shift together.

Snow falls on the thirteenth making it harder to give the cats outside time and everyone that works and volunteers at the center pity them. They do their best and they make an effort to play with them inside as much as they can. Although the benefit of the snow gives Ryan and Yaz permission to put up lights out the front and gel snowflakes in the window to greet visitors and potential adoption families. Ryan foots the ladder while Yaz cautiously tries not to staple her gloves to the roof as well as the lights. Joey’s inside trying to groom one of the more bolder cats and Yaz wants to get these decorations up as soon as possible so she can go and make sure Joey’s not getting into a physical fight.

“Looking good Yaz.” Ryan says.

“Almost done.” Yaz staples another section to the roof. She must admit that even though she’s only seen it from up here 

“I meant your arse.”

“Oi!” Yaz gathers some snow that has settled on the roof and chucks it at her friend without even bothering to turn it into a snowball. The crystalised water slaps Ryan in the face and although Yaz feels bad about it she also has to laugh. 

“He makes a good point.” 

Yaz looks down through the gap between her arm and her body to see Joey appearing with two cups of tea. Suddenly realising that Joey’s inadvertently complimenting her bum Yaz turns back to the string of lights and keeps her flustered face to herself. 

“Hey! Why aren’t you chucking snow at her?” Ryan shouts up at Yaz.

“Don’t want it to get in my tea.” 

That evening after everything is closed up Ryan and Yaz head back to Yaz’s family flat for a decent meal ( _not_ cooked by her father) and a meeting. You’re right to ask why they don’t do it at Ryan’s house or even Yaz’s own home but the fact of the matter is that neither of them are that good at maths. So, to help keep the finances in order, two or three times a year they turn to Najia to help them out. 

“Alright Mrs K.” Ryan says as he makes himself at home.

“Hiya love. Staying for tea?” Najia asks, despite the fact that Ryan stays every time for tea.

“Yeah please.” 

“I’ll be over to help in a minute.” Najia winks. 

Chairs scrape against the floor as the two friends sit down and lay out multiple files and sheets of paper. Yaz already feels like she’s got a headache coming on just from glancing at the numbers. As an institution the center runs off donations and Grace’s life savings alongside a couple of silent investors. One of Grace’s wishes was to never let the center be run as a business to make a profit off of; only ever putting the cats first. That’s how the likes of Yaz, Joey and Ryan are able to get paid while also having volunteers to help them. 

“Don’t think I didn’t notice.” Ryan quietly says to Yaz. 

“Notice what?” 

“You blushing over Joey checking you out this morning.”

“She wasn’t checking me out, she was playing along with the joke.” Yaz says, avoiding Ryan’s original claim completely. 

“That’s because you turned away. Didn’t see how her eyes lingered.” Ryan leans into her side, making the volume of his voice go even lower like he’s talking about a criminalized scandal. 

“Piss off, Joey wouldn’t perv on me. You- you on the other hand, you were the one who said it in the first place!” She pushes Ryan away. 

“Said what?” Najia asks, joining them. 

“Yaz has a nice bottom.” Ryan grins, bigging up the cheeky nature to be able to get away with saying it. 

“You can thank me for that.” Najia smiles over at her daughter, who automatically cringes horribly.

“Can we talk about what we’re actually here to talk about please?” 

“Sorry. Let’s get onto a different kind of ass-et.” Ryan says, unable to keep a straight face for more than the first half of his sentence. Yaz goes to kick him under the table but Najia, who knows Yaz’s limits to getting wound up, steps in. 

“Right, so last time the center wasn’t doing too bad donation wise.” 

“I think it should be the same. Everyone who visits donates and with Joey’s likability no one can deny her when we’re in town.” Yaz says, passing over the sheet she printed off earlier. 

“ _Joey’s likeability_.” Ryan whispers. Yaz chooses to ignore him. 

Najia punches some of the numbers into her phone calculator, doing calculations she probably tried to help Yaz learn how to do years ago at this very table during her teen years. 

“Donations are up by thirteen percent.” She announces. 

“Brilliant!” Ryan sighs with the relief Yaz always spots him having when the finances are doing well. All he’s ever wanted to do is make is nan proud. Carry on her legacy.

“Although-”

“Uh oh.” 

“No, it’s okay Ryan.” Najia smiles. Yaz knows it’s fake. “Expenses have gone up a little with the amount of cats needing veterinary care and medication.” 

“I’m taking three of them for vaccinations tomorrow.” Yaz says. 

“Ask Martha to do it for free. Or even better ask Joey to ask Martha to do it for free, she’d do anything for her.” Ryan says. 

“It’s not that bad Ryan. If anything it’s good because we have the extra money to cover it.” Najia explains. “But if you can get a freebie, get it, I mean every little helps.” 

“We can’t cheat them out of a hundred odd quid.” Yaz refuses. 

“Look it’s alright, forget I said it.” Najia says. “Just keep tracking your spending, what’s coming in and out and all that. What’s the plan for the next few months?” 

“There’s always an influx of adoptions after Christmas.” Yaz says the obvious. “Hopefully those will stay as adoptions.” 

“We have a stall at the town winter wonderland on the twenty-third. I’ll send Joey out with some volunteers.”

“I’ll go.” Yaz offers up her services. 

“I said volunteers as in the ones that don’t get paid, not the ones that volunteer just to spend time with Joey. I need you to actually take care of the cats.”

“Am I missing something here?” Najia asks, putting down the important documents, looking between the two bickering friends. 

“It’s nothing mum.” Yaz insists. 

“Yaz and Joey-”

“Are friends.” Yaz raises her voice. No one questions her after that and their evening meeting and dinner continue as if nothing was ever mentioned. 

The next day Yaz has the responsibility to fulfill that she dislikes to a reasonable extent. Every cat responds differently to being taken to the vets and Yaz never knows whether it’s going to be a struggle or not. On top of the stack of travel crates however sits a christmas biscuit selection box and a card written in Ryan’s handwriting that says _‘I’m sorry I was annoying last night’._ Yaz accepts the biscuits lathered in chocolate and Ryan’s apology for being a dick. Yaz knows deep down he was right but still that doesn’t mean she should have to accept while discussing finances. 

The first moggie Yaz bundles into a crate is the black and ginger girl with one eye, the one Joey quite likes and she’s so compliant that Yaz considers taking it home for herself. The second, named Meow Mein since he was found eating some leftover Chinese food that had been chucked out of a window along the side of the motorway. He also meows a lot. Third and finally comes Scarface, who doesn’t actually have anything wrong with him but catch him in a bad mood and he’ll try to rip your face off. Yaz puts protective gloves on for this one, just while she wrestles him in. 

She straps them into the seats in the back of her car, holding them in tight and safe. Meow Mein screams at her almost the entire drive with the first noise he makes, making Yaz think there’s something wrong with her car for a fleeting moment. Yaz speaks reassuring words in an equally reassuring tone to her three passengers in an attempt to try and keep all of them calm. Everyone around the festive period seems to drive like mad on the roads. Undertaking, overtaking, speeding, getting in the wrong lane. Yes Yaz is driving a little slower due to precious noisy cargo and slushy remnants of snow on the road but that doesn’t mean she’s driving like a complete grandma.

The veterinary practise doesn’t open for another half an hour so Martha comes out to help Yaz carry in the three cats. Yaz can’t help but feel that the vet was expecting to see Joey because of how quiet she is this morning. They barely exchange a word to each other until they’re in the consulting room.

“Everything alright with them?” Martha asks, scooping out Meow Mein first and plonking him on the scales. 

“Yeah, nothing to report. Nothing out of the ordinary.” Yaz shrugs. 

“Sorry if I’m a bit short with you, they’re making me do so much overtime at the moment and I’m trying to save my energy for those people that might bite my head off if I tell them their dog is too fat and they shouldn't be feeding it roast potatoes for the entire month of December.” 

“It’s alright.” Yaz says, suddenly understanding that this might not be about Joey. Unless she’s lying to cover her back. 

Meow Mein makes noise for them to fill the quiet while he’s being vaccinated. Scarface requires the both of them to wrestle him to keep him still so that Martha can check vitals and make sure the needle goes into the cat and not one of their arms. Yaz doesn’t blame him. He’s only scared.

Once Scarface is wrestled back in, out comes the sweet girl with one eye who is no trouble at all despite being a little inquisitive about her surroundings. 

“What are your festive plans then?” Yaz asks to make polite conversation. 

“Going to spend it with my family. My dysfunctional, very argumentative family but still my family.” Martha cracks a smile.

“Not Joey then?” Yaz asks without really considering why she feels the need to know. Probably because she’ll be finding out information about Joey without actually having to ask the women herself. 

“Why would Joey come and gatecrash my Christmas? It’s not like we’re dating.”

“You’re not?” Yaz asks faster than her lips can keep up with the words. Somewhere in her mind she was so certain that Joey would be spending it with Martha- whether it be in a romantic way or just as best friends. Either way Yaz made herself jealous for now what is seemingly no reason at all. 

“Joey?” Martha snorts. “I’m not dating Joey, no way. Never have, probably never will. Not really my type. Wrong gender for a start- hello sweetheart.” 

Martha pulls around the cat's lips to take a look at its teeth unbothered by Yaz’s perception of the world being turned topsy turvy. 

“I just thought…” Yaz mumbles.

“What?” 

“Just the way you were together at the Christmas party. Whispering together and stuff.” Yaz mutters trying not to make a proper embarrassment of herself. 

Martha smirks as she turns away to unwrap the third and final vaccine. “She was talking to me about you.”

“Me?”

Martha holds Yaz in an agonizing silence while she concentrates on injecting the cat Yaz is holding. 

“Yes but I didn’t tell you that.” She says. 

Yaz is consumed by Martha’s words the entire way back to the center. Not only does she now have proper confirmation that Joey is single- or at least not dating Martha- but she also knows that Joey talks about her. What does she talk about? Is she saying nice things? Kind things? Yaz can’t imagine Joey saying anything about anyone that isn’t kind, especially as she was only sitting across from her at the time. But was that the only time? 

She puts the cats back into their corresponding cages ready to be fed by one of the volunteers, and then she takes her new biscuit selection to the front desk to find Ryan. Yaz stands on the other side of the desk and silently offers up a biscuit ring smothered in milk chocolate. 

“Those are yours.” Ryan says when he eventually looks up from the computer screen and realises his friend is in front of him. 

“And I can tell when you’re stressed about this place so take it.” Yaz pushes the biscuit between his lips. 

“Thank you.” He takes a bite and chews. “Just every December you know, it just all goes a bit…”

“I know.” Yaz smiles understandingly. They always have a bit of an argument come mid December.

“Oooh, biccies!” 

Joey nabs a biscuit out of the plastic tray, twirls behind Yaz’s back to end up on her other side and looks her dead in the eye as she takes a bite and winks. She skips away, jumping to click her heels in the air at the joy of being able to grab a treat. Yaz herself feels so overwhelmed with it all she has to look to Ryan to ask with her eyes if Joey really was just here, stealing her biscuits and winking and jumping around. He seems to look just as bemused at the interaction. If Joey was any other person Yaz would laugh and shake her head at her and move on with her day, but Joey is Joey and Yaz’s head falls to the desk and as her body bends it lets out a groan. Why was that display so endearing? Why does Yaz find someone stealing food and skipping away like they’ve won the lottery attractive?

“You need to do something about that mate.” Ryan says.

“Yes, thank you Ryan.” Yaz’s muffled voice vibrates through her skull as well as the desk, only soothed by Ryan’s sympathetic patting that's supposed to be comforting her. 

Joey keeps doing little things like that for the next week. Not to anyone else though, only to Yaz and Yaz doesn’t know if it’s because she’s special or if Joey’s just having some fun but Ryan really does insist that he doesn’t see her do it with anyone else. Little touches, drumming a beat with her fingers on Yaz’s shoulders when she creeps up behind her, stealing her food, inviting her back to hers for a takeaway, requesting that Yaz is the one to tend the winter wonderland stall with her. 

The highstreet is cold and bustling and of course many people turn a blind eye to Yaz and Joey sitting there but here is where their heater is and Yaz can’t make Joey go out and use her charm for the whole day. Their stall is immaculately laid out. They struggled to put up the gazebo at first but it’s dressed nicely in the colours of the center with some twinkling festive lights wrapped around the legs. This time their mission is to not only raise awareness about the center, what cats can and can’t eat over the festive period and how cats get abandoned after being given as presents, but to also sell cat toys that the local primary school have made in their after school arts and crafts club. There are also several knitted blankets that Grace’s old friends have donated to be sold and raise funds. 

“Those crêpes look good.” Joey says, tapping her feet. She’s been eyeing up the stall across from them for an hour now- with it steaming and emitting scents of all sorts of winter spices. “How much do you think they cost?”

“Two pound fifty.” Yaz says, flicking through one of their own booklets. 

“How’d you know?” Joey frowns at her, unable to comprehend how Yaz knows without having looked up. . 

“You told me half an hour ago.” 

“Oh.” Yaz lifts her head and watches Joey struggle to remember. “Forgot.” 

“Go and get one Joey, I know you want one.” Yaz encourages her. 

“Do you want one?” Joey asks.

“Not really.” Yaz scrunches up her nose. Or at least she thinks. It’s a bit too cold to really know how her face is expressing things. 

“I’m not going to have one if you’re not having one.” 

“Get me a sugar lemon one.” Yaz lifts herself off her chair to dig her hand into her back pocket. 

“Don’t have one if you don’t really want one just because I want one.”

“So you admit you want one.” 

“I-”

“You’re not a child Joey, you can go and get one.” Yaz pushes the five pound note into her hand.

“I just thought because we’re working…”

“We’re sitting here selling handmade cat toys and saying thank you for donations. Hardly work that’s going to get us scrutinized for eating.” 

Joey gets up with a blinding grin on her face. “Lemon yeah?”

Yaz pulls her hat further down her head to keep her ears warm and tucks her hands inside the sleeves of her wooly jumper until she needs them to eat her crêpe. She’s glad she has one even if she didn’t really intend on having one. She also has to remind Joey that if she shovels hers down too fast she’ll end up getting a stomach ache but she only slows down by a fraction. 

_“Ulookprtyin ha at.”_

“I’m sorry what?” Yaz laughs at the mish mash of sounds that are clearly supposed to be words.

Joey holds up a finger, telling Yaz to wait until she swallows her final mouthful.

“I said you look pretty in that hat. It suits you.” Joey compliments.

“Thanks, Joey.” The muscles in Yaz’s face fight the cold to at least try and control how much this makes her grin- Joey calling her pretty, unprompted.

“More than pretty when you smile like that.” Joey softly confesses.

Flattered beyond belief Yaz is rendered speechless while Joey waits patiently for a response. Her stare doesn’t help Yaz think any more clearly.

“You- um…” Yaz scavenges for something just as complementary to say but instead gets distracted at a brown fleck on Joey’s cheek for long enough for a family to step up to their stall. “Oh, hello!” She recognises the bright red headed boys in an instant. 

The quieter of the two boys, still ever content in his silence, places a ten pound note into the donation pot and looks back proudly at their dad standing behind them.

“Thank you.” Joey says, handing the kids a couple of lollipops. 

“Hey, how’s Pickles getting along?” Yaz asks, turning on her family friendly charm, only acutely aware of her and Joey’s unfinished conversation. 

“She loves her mouse toy and she likes to eat tuna and her favourite is when you scratch behind her ears!” The elder, taller boy excitedly tells Yaz with an extreme level of pride. 

“And she likes to sleep on my bed.” The other brother politely raises his hand so that Yaz and Joey will pay attention to him. “She purrs really loudly. It’s nice.”

“Here.”

The friendly father pushes his phone into Yaz’s face to show her a picture of Pickles sleeping peacefully next to an equally peaceful boy. Joey’s arm slips behind Yaz’s back to pull herself closer so she can see- pressing their cheeks together and Yaz hopes for the life of her that Joey doesn’t feel how her touch is making her blood fizzle hot. Yaz manages to hold herself together, just about, and politely smiles and coos at pictures of their successfully rehomed pet. 

“Aw, I’m glad you’re having a good time with her.” Yaz says as the phone gets retracted out of her personal space. What stays in her personal space though, is Joey.

“Merry Christmas.” The three boys smile and move along. 

“You too!” Joey cheers.

“Don’t celebrate it but okay.” Yaz mutters quietly. 

Joey readjusts herself, still staying close but keeping her hand solidly in the center of Yaz’s back. “Anyway, you were saying?” She asks, throwing the two of them back to where they were. 

Yaz simply bites her tongue, still not knowing what she really wants to say regarding Joey’s sweetness. She points to the brown spot on her face. She knows it’s not a mole or a freckle since she already has those memorized.

“You have some chocolate sauce on your face.” Yaz says. 

“What?” Joey scrabbles to fetch the front camera on her phone, the hand shaped patch on Yaz’s back suddenly feeling the cold. She watches Joey scrub it off her face leaving a bright red mark. “Gone?”

It’s gone. Completely gone. Wiped to smithereens. But Yaz still reaches out her hand to brush her thumb against the irritated skin just to touch her. 

“There.” Yaz barely mumbles. 

Joey shuffles a little where she sits. “Thanks.” 

They don’t acknowledge either the action or the compliment for the rest of the time they’re together that day. Just continue on as normal.

“Morning Ryan.” 

“Good morning Yasmin Khan!” Ryan grins and presses the button in the seam of his jumper so that it plays jingle bells. At that moment Yaz remembers it’s Christmas Eve. 

“Are you going to play that all day?” Yaz asks. 

“Until the batteries run out.” Ryan bares a cheeky grin. 

“How old are those batteries exactly?”

“Fresh in this morning!” He beats his chest with an annoying amount of pride in his preparation to be annoying. “Joey wants you.”

“She does?” Yaz’s smile fades slightly expecting something very wrong for some reason unknown. 

“Yeah one of the long hairs had a bit of a... squishy… excrement. Needs bathing.” 

“Merry Christmas to me.” Yaz sighs, knowing that this isn’t exactly going to be the most pleasant part of the day.

She finds Joey already running warm water into the big silver sink, harmlessly humming a Christmas carol to herself looking like she’s forgotten to be expecting Yaz. 

“Where’s the troublemaker?” Yaz asks.

Joey turns from watching the sink and begins to smile when she sees Yaz. “Still in his cage. I’ve got one of the volunteers to agree to clean up the mess so we’re in the clear there.” She shakes a red tub full of colourfully wrapped rectangles. “Chocolate?” 

“Yes please.” Yaz helps herself. She can still taste the mint in her mouth from her toothpaste but fuck it, she wants one. Especially as Joey is the one offering.

“Have them while you can. You’ll be put off of them when you see the mess.” Joey winks, going to tie a protective apron around her body. Yaz, suddenly having been put off the melting chocolate in her mouth, follows and does the same. 

The dirty protest culprit in question is Jeremy, a bright green eyed tabby who had to be passed onto the center when he scratched a baby. Not his fault, he was unsupervised by the adults and the child was aggravating him and his otherwise kind nature. The fact has made it hard to adopt him on though. Jeremy starts to make grumbling noises when Joey puts him in the water. It’s only filled enough to cover his legs and the bottom of his belly but Yaz still holds him like at any moment he’s going to turn the tide and thrash out. Joey does the dirty work giving him a full bathe so that he doesn’t feel like she’s only probing at sensitive areas. He’s a good boy and makes noises that make the both of them laugh all the way through to when Yaz is blow drying and brushing him.

“All done big fella.” Yaz says, releasing Jeremy back into his newly cleaned home. “Nice and fresh.”

“I think he was given too much food last night.” Joey says, theorising a cause. 

“Wouldn’t doubt it. Everyone gets a bit heavy handed this time of year.”

“I wish I could take them all home for the day. Like a rest day where they can experience normal life.” Joey says, wistfully imagining her greatest fantasies. “Don’t you wish you could just do that Yaz? Get in a car or a plane or a boat and just go for a couple of weeks and explore some place new with someone. Carelessly have a good time.”

“That’s called a holiday.” Yaz says as she rids herself of her protective gear. “I can’t remember the last time I had a holiday.”

“You work too hard.” Joey scoffs at her. 

“You’ve not had a holiday the whole time you’ve worked here.” Yaz points out.

“Maybe it’s not the going places I want then. Maybe it’s just the people I want to be around that satisfies me enough.”

“When you say people; do you mean cats or humans?” Yaz asks. 

“When you’re here, I get both.” Joey says.

It takes a moment for Yaz to swallow that. A moment of contemplative silence that allows Joey to slip away to a different room to complete a different task on her to do list for today. Yaz knew deep down that if Joey was ever going to voluntarily give up part of what's going on in her heart of hearts she wouldn't stick around to deal with the reaction and Yaz wishes she wasn't so right. Of course if she moves now she can catch up to her and make her keep talking, maybe confess a couple of important feelings but Yaz stands still in front of the groomed cat too surprised to move her legs. She counts this as the first time Joey has ever muttered a proper admittance of an affection that may not be simply platonic in nature- or maybe that was yesterday and she didn’t realise it. 

She doesn’t cross paths with Joey again for the rest of her shift. She doesn’t really see anyone but Ryan. No one’s allowed to visit because for the cats' benefit there are no adoptions permitted, most of the volunteers are spending time with family or doing some last minute shopping, and Joey just seemed to disappear. It wouldn’t usually bother Yaz since she’s used to almost doing everything on her own over these few days but what Joey said keeps cropping up, preoccupying her imagination. 

When Yaz gets home she trips over the delivery box on her doorstep. She doesn’t remember expecting an order but nonetheless she’s thankful that it’s been left for her and not sent back to the post office for her to have to collect after the holiday. The first thing she does is open it and is shocked to find a book. Her brain must be running slow today because she rotates the book in her hand three times before she realises it’s the romance novel she saw in Joey’s pile that she ordered for herself. A wave of shame flows over her. How stupid, to buy a book just because Joey was reading it and she saw it as an indirect way to get to know her better. Yaz opens it to the first page, just to see if this purchase may actually take her interest.

She reads it as she gets changed. She subconsciously imagines Joey as the mysterious love interest as she eats her dinner with the paperback in hand. She puts it down to shower but is quick to pick it back up again as she gets into bed; fully escaping her regular evening routine and submerging herself into something new. Something exciting that she realises she yearns for herself. Yaz should have known that it was a bad idea to fill her brain with all these fantasies with romantic ideals right before she falls asleep since now all she dreams of is her and Joey bunking down together in a remote part of Italy as they backpack around Europe. Does Joey ever dream the same kind of thing when she reads before bed? Is it Yaz that takes the form of the friend turned lover in her mind? She won’t ever get an answer but somehow as Yaz dreams she wonders, all while she’s already living happily with her love in her head. 

When Yaz wakes she feels awful. A couple of amorous compliments and suddenly Yaz is dreaming about domestic bliss with Joey, who is still just her friend. Will she be able to look at her the same, although her view of her was already slowly changing before now anyway? Yaz contemplates it on the drive to work. 

It’s amazingly beautiful how quiet yet loud the streets are as she drives. No one is outside but lights are on inside and out and you just know that within the brick walls she's passing there are children opening gifts that they’ve been so desperately good for for months, or an elderly couple is sitting down to have a special breakfast as they watch the morning news. She considers what Joey might be going, given that Yaz never got the chance to ask her. Will she be eating something nice? Does she have someone to give her presents and tell her how much she’s valued?

To make an effort for other drivers passing by the first thing Yaz does when she gets into work is turn on the outside lights. She’s then greeted by multiple hungry voices demanding to be fed. Yaz retrieves all empty bowls and since it’s Christmas she decides to give them a quick wash before serving out dry and wet portions of food.

“Hey.” 

“Fuuuuuh- Joey!” Yaz jumps at the unexpected intrusion. Even more shocking is the green and red waistcoat littered with cartoon reindeers Joey is wearing, accompanied by a headband with two green sticks poking up from it. “What are you doing here?” 

“Not really into Christmas if I’m honest.” Joey shrugs, coming over to help.

“Tell that to your outfit.” Yaz eyes her up and down. 

“Only if you tell me you don’t usually do this on your own.” 

“I used to do it with Grace and Ryan.” Yaz says. 

“Oh really?” Joey asks, wanting to hear more. She never really got the chance to know Grace- only hearing stories.

“I um… when I was younger I tried to run away from home.” Yaz says. Trusting that it’s only Joey’s ears present to hear this story Yaz feels ready to release this part of her past. She takes a deep breath with Joey’s unbreaking gaze making her feel comforted yet under pressure at the same time. “Bullying. Got really bad, started to fuck with my mental health so I wanted to go away for a bit. Just away where I could be someone else. I made it as far as the train station and Grace was there. She said she was meaning to speak to me about giving me a job, just something to keep my mind occupied because she knew I was having a bit of a… and I didn’t really want to talk to her but she somehow got me on a trial shift the next day- probably because I didn't want to disappoint her so I just did it. You asked me what I’m really doing here a while ago and… I just guess I’m avoiding things. Still running away. Hiding in here, in my work.” 

Yaz keeps her head down, continuing to serve up food so she doesn’t have to look Joey in the eye. However Joey reaches out and takes Yaz’s hand, giving it a quick squeeze before letting it drop so that contact isn’t so prolonged. 

“Thank you for sharing that with me.” Joey says. 

“You shared your past with-” Yaz stops dead in her tracks when she spots what the green things poking out the top of her head. Mistletoe. Yaz doesn’t know if it’s an intentional choice or not and with Joey waiting so patiently for her to finish her sentence Yaz has a clear idea of what she wants to do anyway. “You know you’ve got…” 

“Oh! Yeah, sorry, I thought I’d be alone here so I just grabbed the one on top of the pile.” Joey swipes her headband off the top of her head leaving her hair in a ruffled mess. “Toxic to cats though, I should’ve thought about that. Stupid Joey, I guess it’s best that I‘m not left here alone.”

“Come on then.” Yaz does a brilliant job of hiding her disappointment.“Time to play Santa.”

“Since when did we decide these cats were Christian? What if they’re Jewish?” Joey asks.

“No idea.” Yaz smiles at Joey’s out of the box thoughtfulness. 

Every year the center gets donation upon donation of toys for the cats. Not a lot, it must be mentioned, but enough for one each usually and, at six PM on the dot, Graham O’Brien comes and delivers a perfectly cooked and carved turkey crown so the cats can have a special feast for tea. He’s done it for years- his way of flirting with Grace at first but even after he married her and after her passing he still does it with Ryan in tow. For now Yaz serves breakfast and Joey carries the sack of cat toys, pulling out one at each stop and giving the chosen cat a quick stroke before moving to the next. Eventually everyone is fed and watered and Yaz starts up the heaters outside so that the cats can stretch their legs and play. 

Joey leads playtime. Of course she does and she does it with style and a Christmas playlist playing out of her phone. Despite the heaters Yaz can feel herself catching a chill and having spotted her holding her arms around herself Joey comes up to her, wrapping a blanket around the two of them. Still feeling slightly vulnerable from letting Joey see a side to her that she hasn’t even explained to her own mother, Yaz gives in to what she wants which at this very moment is to rest her head on her friend's shoulder. Joey smells nice. A festive scent of apples and cinnamon and it relaxes her.

“I haven’t really celebrated Christmas since I came out of prison.” Joey says as the two of them watch three of the cats they have out settle for a nap underneath the heaters. “Didn’t think there was really any point.”

“Joey?”

“Yeah?”

Yaz doesn’t know what possesses her to do it in that moment while she does it. She kisses her cheek, just briefly, and yet it feels so scandalous. Joey stares at her as such, frozen in time and space, unblinking like if her eyelids close then Yaz is going to vanish before her very eyes. The longer Joey stands there unmoving the louder Yaz's pulse in her ears drum, creating a beat that's on the verge of unbearable. She gulps with the severity of what she's done sinking in, perhaps being severely misjudged until-

“Finally.” 

Yaz only hears Joey's utterance of the word- feels the three syllables whisp against the flesh of her lips before hands with cold fingertips cup her face and she feels everything all at once. Lips on hers, her own hands reaching to hold Joey in a similar manner without getting tangled, landing in soft blonde hair. For a second Yaz feels as if she’s floating, walking among the clouds until the second passes- as time does- and her feet fall through the sky and her heart pushes against her ribcage while Joey leads her in a different kind of dance than the one she dreamt about. She never thought about what kind of a kisser Joey would be and now that she’s at her mercy her mind goes blank. The words will come to her eventually, perhaps in an hour or two, maybe a day, but the closest she’ll get for now is a noise escaping from the back of her throat as Joey’s hand slips down to her waist. 

"Christ." Joey whispers in response.

"Certainly the day for it." Yaz jokes to hide how vulnerable she feels in this moment. 

Yaz allows her lips to gently curl up into a small smile- not too wide in case Joey clocks it and becomes incredibly smug. She nudges the tips of their noses together, triggering Joey into sighing out the breath she’s been holding, creating a plume of fog in the small space of air between them. 

"You could probably make me say so many more things." Joey nervously laughs then suddenly realises the implications of what she’s said. If Yaz’s hands weren’t in her hair she’s certain Joey would have tried to run. "I mean- I meant-"

"Joey…" 

Yaz feels like she may have to pinch herself. Her brain is trying to convince her that this was all a dream, that she hasn't just spent all of Christmas day so far in bed with Joey. Joey who somehow knew exactly how to take care of her every need. Joey who kissed her once and then never stopped treating her like a queen. 

“D'you think we moved too fast?” Yaz asks, lifting herself from resting on Joey’s bare chest to look at her beautiful face. 

“Not fast enough.” Joey huffs, starting to blush at the cheeks.

 _“That’s_ what you blush at?” Yaz giggles. Of everything they’ve done today how can one small answer cause this reaction.

“I’ve liked you for a really long time Yaz.” Joey wraps her arm protectively around Yaz’s waist. “You're so perfect.”

“No one's perfect.” Yaz gently reminds her.

“Well you've clearly not looked at yourself in a mirror recently.” Joey rolls her eyes. 

Yaz leans down to kiss her cheek. “You don't have to keep trying to flatter me Joey.”

“I just don't… want this to be some kind of one night… mistake. You know?”

“It's not even dark outside yet so I highly doubt that.” Yaz says, closing her eyes to revel in the sensation of Joey’s hand drawing patterns on her spine. 

“You really mean that?” Joey whispers. 

“I quite like you too.”

In the dark of her closed eyelids Yaz still manages to find Joey’s lips and indulge in the sensation of her. The arm around her waist gently pushes her down, molding their bodies into one tangled mess under Joey’s bedsheets. Yaz doesn’t deny that she loves it. Loves the feel, loves the small sounds. Except it takes her a while to figure out where the scratching noise is coming from.

“I think someone wants your attention.” Yaz says when there’s a natural break to let Joey know her cats are calling for her.

“You better mean your boobs because they’re literally right there.”

Joey coaxes Yaz back with a blinding smile, kissing her lips, her neck, her cheeks, her jaw. All until one of the cats meows and Yaz realises how long they’ve been cooped up together, denying the world outside of their presence. 

“Joey let them in.” Yaz says. 

“I don't want to, I just want you in here with me.” Joey whines. 

“What's the harm in it Joey?” Yaz starts to play with unbelievably soft hair. 

“I dunno. One of us might flip the other over and squish 'em. Also I don’t want them to see, they’re innocent.” 

“You have not so very innocent plans then?” Yaz kinks an eyebrow.

“Maybe.” Joey shrugs and smirks. 

“And are you in a rush to go through with them in case I leave and then change my mind about everything tomorrow making it horrible and awkward to work together.” Yaz reads her like a book.

“Also maybe.” Joey says. 

“Let your cats in Joey.” 

Yaz untangles herself from Joey in a dream state, swinging her legs over the bed, reaching for her shirt.

“But-”

“You can kick them out again later tonight.” 

Yaz looks over her shoulder and swings herself back into bed under the covers, signalling that she’s staying. She doesn’t have to go and visit her parents or her sister and Joey doesn’t have any other obligation. With a smirk, Joey jumps out of bed. Yaz finds herself biting her lip, almost drooling at Joey’s silhouette from behind as she slips on her boxers just to go and let her cat in.

“You ruining my door dude?” Joey asks Void as he struts in. “Oh, you too?” Venus trots in, swiftly jumping onto the bed. 

“She looks so healthy.” Yaz grins, letting the cat get reacquainted with her scent. Which doesn’t take long at all. 

“New diet and lots of playtime.” Joey says, looking back at Yaz. Yaz wonders if she’s glowing just as much as Joey is. Joey happily gets back into bed, leaving the door open for furry friends to come and go, and drags Void into her lap. Then, unsurprisingly the remaining two cats come and share the bed. “Jesus- alright then. Everyone pile in.” Joey grumbles.

Yaz reckons she’s not felt so content for years as her and Joey sit half naked petting cats in bed. It’s not how she imagined her day going, and it’s going to take a lot of explaining when they go back to work (if they choose to tell Ryan), but it’s the perfect day to her.

“You know what Yaz.” Joey says, shuffling closer into Yaz so their sides are pressing up against each other. 

“What?” Yaz asks. Joey grins. 

“Best Christmas ever.”

**Author's Note:**

> oh to sit in bed, titties out, with four cats and a dumb gay
> 
> happy holidays everyone, comments and kudos welcome and very much appreciated!
> 
> twitter: @helenasmells  
> tumblr: kiras-monkey-bum-face


End file.
